Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard signed a five-year, $125MM extension, according to CSN's Jim Salisbury. The deal includes a $23MM option for 2017 with a $10MM buyout. Howard is currently under contract through 2011, so the extension runs from 2012 through 2016. AOL FanHouse's Ed Price tweets the yearly salaries, noting that there is a limited no-trade clause. Hot stove junkies won't be seeing Howard join Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, and Adrian Gonzalez in the 2012 free agent class.
Howard is in his age 30 season, so the contract begins with his age 32 season. The length makes this an unnecessary risk, and at $25MM a year the Phillies didn't get a discount for taking the gamble and locking him up two years before free agency. Tip of the cap to agent Casey Close, who negotiated the deal.
Back in '08 Howard set a first-time arbitration record with a $10MM salary. A year later he signed a three-year, $54MM extension to buy out his remaining arbitration years. The Phillies clearly like to lock up their guys.
there goes alot of hopes and dreams for other teams
No, they can still hope and dream for Jayson Werth!
Im not exactly sold Werth is in the same league of skill as Howard. Howard has been a Home Run threat every year now since he has started playing in the majors, Werth just got good over a career of sluggish so-so years. Smart move by the Phillies if this is accurate, they are signing the right guy to a longer deal
Werth has much better platoon splits, can steal bases, see a ton of pitches and draw a bunch of walks (Ryan has just 3 this year, 2 of which are intentional!), and he can play any outfield position. I think all that makes him a better player.
IF he produces on the level he did last year, sure.
Unnecessary to the nth degree. There’s a good chance they’ll end up regretting this when he’s 34 or 35.
I don’t know about that. I think the guy will be productive late into his 30’s. I wouldn’t sign him past this contract, but I think that the Phillies will be okay and I commend them for locking up Howard. Pending the dollar amount I like the deal so far, let’s see how we feel after we see the amount.
This is just a ridiculous, ridiculous contract.
Agreed, it’s already got to be among the 8-10 worst contracts in baseball already.
On an unrelated note, you and I share the same last name.
how can you say this is a bad contract. we are talking about a guy who puts constantly over 45+ 140+ RBI’s?
please dont count RBI’s they have very little to do with the actual batter, RBI’s have more to do with the runners on and less with the batter RBI’s are more or a team stat, much like wins and losses for pitchers
Because his real numbers show he’s generally in the 2nd tier of first basemen at best.
Pujols, Gonzalez, Teixeira, Votto, Youkilis, Fielder, and Cabrera have all been better offensively in 2008 and 2009, and he’s always been just an average defensive player.
They could have saved their money for a better 1B or used it elsewhere. Instead they’re dramatically overpaying even if he were younger.
Second Tier? We are talking about a guy who has been in the top 5 of MVP voting 4 of five years and won an MVP. but i gues we shouldnt count that either? Other than Pujols he is best pure power hitter in the game. what real numbers are you guys talking about. a power hitter is judged on the ability to hit home runs and knock people in.
thats the most ridiculous thing i’ve ever read that Joey Votto is a better offensive player than Ryan Howard, the guy consistently drives in 140+ runs and has 45+ HR’s. That’s like saying you’d rather have Dan Uggla than Chase Utley, both Votto and Uggla are nice players, but Utley and Howard are putting up HOF numbers and will for the next 8-10 years.
Utley has a 100% better chance at the HOF than howard does. Not saying howard is not a good player but come on how many power hitters are out there…tons. and a lot of them dont make it to the hall of fame. STOP WITH RBIS its not a stat about the hitter just so you know if you were to say batting average with runner in scoring position thats a better stats than rbis…Howard has sub par defense strikes out A LOT and does not have that great of a Average…so I dont know if you can say howard is a hall of famer
Ryan Howard is on a historic pace in regards to home runs and in the top 5 of MVP voting every year and won an MVP. you people are buts to say he is a second tier first baseman and than say votto and youk are better than him. just stop.
He’s on a historic pace for nothing. He’s already 30 years old. Yes, he hits a lot of HR. He also debuted when he was like 25.
Not sure what you are talking about Howard is one of the best RBI and home run hitters in the game.Without Howard you would not have won a world series. He is a large man so prehaps he is not a gold glover but he is good enough. You are the same fans that booed Mike Schmidt.
Have you guys ever heard of OPS? (SLG+OBP) He (Howard) finished 9th last year among MLB 1B – and it tells you a lot more about a player than RBI does. RBI is more a function of how many people are getting on base ahead of you, and Howard happens to be planted in the most potent lineup in the National League. If you’re looking for a fantasy first-basemen to plug your HR and RBI, Howard’s your man. But he’s not a top 5 1B in terms of real productive value. Check out fangraphs.com and look at some of the more advanced statistics.
I guess the philly ownership is not very impressed with your stats.The whole moneyball, bill james stat thing is a bust.
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” 🙂
I forgot the Phillies had such a long, storied history of being successful. And of course, their recent success couldn’t possibly be attributed to the other incredible players *around* Howard…
Nice quote, I bet you can not tell me who you are quoting?
I bet you can’t either.
Any amount you would like to wager I will bet you.
The fact that you would suggest betting someone in a comment section is laughable in itself, but just for shits and giggles let’s make the wager Howard’s new contract total.
I did not think you knew the answer knucklehead, it is Abraham Lincoln whose quote you quoted. Go throw up on a little girl watching the game with her chief of police father. Only in the city of brotherly love.
Whoops, I obviously can’t read very far down the page. Anyway, back to the point, while there is evidence to suggest Lincoln did say something along the lines of the quote above, there is also evidence that about a dozen other historically famous people have also been “quoted” as saying something practically identical. The truth is that the message the quote portrays originated in the Bible:
“Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.” -Proverbs 17:28
So, yeah Kyle could’ve been quoting one of many different people, and the author of the original message is unknown.
Two things that consistently disappear early on people. This contract has him signed straight through to 37. This is a terrible contract to sign a power hitter who strikes out a ton to. Three years ago, David Ortiz was putting up those kind of gaudy numbers. That’s not even getting into the fact that this is an NL team. In the AL, you could shuttle him off to the DH spot and hope that gives him an extra couple of years by avoiding the wear and tear of fielding every day.
I’d love to have Ryan Howard on my team right now, but four years from now, much less seven? No thanks. This is a contract the Phillies are going to be SERIOUSLY regretting down the line.
You nailed it. Haven’t we seen the era of the aging slugger begin a serious decline? And the Phils just bought into a HUGE part of that. This will be a serious drag on that team towards the end of the deal.
Like everyone else said. What decade is this? It’s silly and pretty moronic to evaluate a player’s value and worth based on RBI.
Like everyone else said. What decade is this? It’s silly and pretty moronic to evaluate a player’s value and worth based on RBI.
Damn. I think they should have waited till he hit free agency and see if anyone else gave him that. I doubt another team would have wanted to give a 32 year old 1B a 5 year 125MIL contract.
25MIL a year from 32-37. You don’t see that everyday. Unless you’re A-Rod.
they pulled a cards and over bid them selves for a player..the cards did it with holliday and the phillies did it with howard…..can i just say this Ruban said there simply wasent enough money to keep cliff lee on the team after getting halladay but there was enough to extend a sooner than later DH
I think Adrian Gonzalez’s agent just passed out.
Yeah, so much for a mid-market team being able to afford AGonz. Can Prince Fielder command that kind of money? I would think that teams are wary of his beer gut. I can’t see him being productive far into his 30’s unless he gets in decent shape.
It is probably such a bad contract it doesn’t help Gonzalez much. He can’t bring it up because other teams would just laugh at that contract and say just because the Phillies were stupid doesn’t mean they will be.
In fairness, the guy has been severely underpaid every year his first four years with the Phils…they’ve only paid the guy $26M for his first four years of MLB service and they got 225 jacks, 640 RBI, over a 950 OPS, a ROY season, an MVP season, two NL pennants, and a World Series. If they overpay for the guy on the back end of his career, I think it’s understandable.
You can say that about any young player out of the minors who makes an impact though.
not a ridiculous contract. an AL team would’ve offered him way more just to DH. howard is extremely vital to the phils lineup and they were smart by settling this before the rumors kicked up. now utley and howard will solidify the 3- and 4-holes for a while. he’ll still be productive until his 37 year. however, i do agree that they shouldn’t resign him after that. this also probably marks the end of werth’s tenure here in philly.
….by AL team, you mean that ONE AL team. The Yanks. I don’t see any other team willing to shell out 25 million a year, for Howard’s decline years (okay, plus a couple prime years, but still), just for him to DH. Lackey is the Red Sox highest paid player at 18 million. I don’t think they’d just jump right up to 25 mil for Howard. He can hit those home runs, but his stats imply that he’s not going to age well. So, but this really is a ridiculous contract. If the Phils were willing to pay this much, they should have waited until free agency, and waited for him to lower his sights, and save a couple million. As someone said before, no other team, had Howard gone to free agency, would have been willing to pay 25m a year for his 32-37 years.
But the Yankees WOULD shell out 25 per on a team with A-Rod signed until he’s 42 and Tex signed at first for the next 7 years? Not to mention the inevitably spending on extending Jeter and Rivera and acquiring a starter and the potential for Jesus Montero if he can’t catch full time?
I realize you may have meant the Yankees are capable of affording a 25 million dollar contract, but if you have followed their tendencies the last few years and know anything about the roster and farm system, you would also agree New York is less likely than Boston to make this sort of deal for Ryan Howard
whoops, sorry, let me elaborate. I meant that because of contracts like Teixeira and A-Rod, it’s clear that the Yanks have been willing to shell out 20 million plus for guys through their later years. I do agree with you, actually, that the Yanks don’t seem likely to pay up 25m for Howard. They’ve already got a starting first baseman, so he’d have to play DH as well. There’s no way they’d pay him 25m a year; I just meant that out of the AL teams, the Yanks are the most likely to be willing to pay a guy 20m+ through his late 30s, early 40s, if they wanted to. And if the Yanks aren’t that interested, then that’s yet another reason that the Phils just extended Howard to a ridiculous contract.
Noted. I completely agree. Phillies bid against themselves and did it prematurely.
Didn’t see this comment by you before I posted above, so ignore what I said to you as I agree with what you’re saying here.
haha, it’s all cool. 🙂 Yeah I didn’t really make myself completely clear the first time around, so no worries.
“Way more” to DH? Sorry man, but you are way off base on that prediction. 25m/per to just swing a bat for multiple years (5) is nothing more than an exaggeration.
I have to tell you that I completely disagree, very strongly might I add, with absolutely everything you just said. And BoSoxSam, the Yanks wouldn’t have paid him this much (or signed him at all for that matter) because they already have an overpaid DH-in-waiting.
Love this for Howard.
SO if Howard got 5 years 125 million what do you think A-Gon is going to get? he has alot of power and he hits 35-40 homers in PECTO imgiane in a hitters park he plays gold glove Defense .
I’d expect a similar deal, perhaps a tad higher since he’ll be on the true open market. They are very comparable, I would not rate Gonzo higher though. Howard’s defense has been as good as any other 1B this year. And he has proved he can hit the 45-50 HR’s. Not just anticipated w/ better ballpark.
But i think A-Gon would hit a couple more home runs a year in a hitters park true that a couple homers isnt something to get excited about but i wouldn’t complain have either one but if i had to choose i would pick Howard also he is a beast, But the only thing about your argument that we still have alot to go in the year and i think A Gon in fact will and does have better Defense than Howard
A-Gonz plays better defense than Howard, and Ryan Howard has enjoyed a little something called lineup protection over the last few years that Adrian has not had the luxury of having. Gonzalez is the better overall player and this contract is going to turn into an atrocity for the Phillies, the writing is already on the wall.
Games At Bats Plate Appearances STRIKEOUTS
716 2639 3015 560 Adrian Gonzalez
750 2767 3228 892 Ryan Howard
And if you put any stock into Fangraphs WAR, Howard hasn’t even been worth more than his own teammate, Jayson Werth, over the last 3 years. Howard has a combined 12.4 WAR from ’07-’09, while Werth has put up a 13.1 WAR over that same stretch.
Totally over paid him. Hopefully this does not inflate the FA crowd next offseason.
Call it a funny feeling but I think this contract is going to bit them in the rump. I can see Big Papi Part II written all over this.
“Hopefully this does not inflate the FA crowd next offseason.”
Too late.
I actually think with so many good first baseman hitting the market it will decrease. Really only one or two teams will be able to shell out 100 million + contracts.
Ooh, and Big Papi Part II is gonna be much more painful; 25 million a year is going to sting a LOT more than 12 million. Not to mention the fact that Howard’s got more years on his contract…I could see Vernon Wells part II if he does a Papi-like decline, which, while not necessarily likely, is definitely possible.
A-Gon? how about Pujols? 6-180 maybe or 7-210?
I would add a year for AGon so 7-180, Pujols is going to want way more.
Yeah, but I see that as probably being worth it. 6/180 for Pujols would be an AWESOME deal for the team that gets him.
I should note, he is going to get more though.
$30 million a year is not my definition of an “awesome deal” for any team, even if it is for Pujols.
IF howard gets 5/125, Pujols gets 20/GDP
Wow… that was completely surprising and completely unnecessary. Terrible deal for Philadelphia. If Howard loses an ounce of bat speed, they’re screwed.
This contract will be an anchor that weighs this franchise down for at least the last two seasons probably. Shocked and really just confused overall by this extension…
Though I think its overreaching on years (where have we seen this before with Ruben Amaro Jr.), it may actually serve the Phillies well. In 2 years, who know’s what the economy will be like and what the market rate will be for a player like Howard?
Also factor in what a fantastic job Howard has done with improving his defense and becoming a more complete player. This is a ballclub that has created a tremendous culture of success and hardwork. With Utley/Howard/Halladay its gonna be a very competitive team for years to come regardless of how they’re surrounded.
Does the decision make sense in a vacuum? No. Better to wait til free agency and get the better value player. But with this team, it makes sense since he is part of the identity of the team. Sadly, it does mean our one good RH bat will be gone (Werth) this time next year.
Werth will be gone sooner than you think. If Ruben has any intelligence whatsoever he will trade Jayson Werth by the deadline in order to restock his depleted farm system. You guys lost alot in the Lee and Halladay deals and by trading Werth for nothing less than AA top prospects you can make up for it. He shouldn’t wait until free agency because he will most likely be a type-A and all you will get is a couple early draft picks. Whoop-dee-friggin’-doo. It’s going to be a tough good-bye for Philly but it needs to happen.
Right cause you trade a top-20, 35HR OF in the middle of the season when you’re a world series contending team. Been awhile since you reach the playoffs Bravos, understand the misunderstanding. We take the draft picks and move on. Also, did you miss the Lee deal when we did restock?
Wow just like a Phillies fan. I try being nice and starting an intelligent discussion and I get crap in return for it. You said you’d be satisfied with draft picks? Tell me this then. What happens if your first round draft picks go into nothingness? Then losing Werth in free agency instead of trading him will go down as a sad, wasteful moment in Phillies history. Now I know that you people consider your current team to be gods deserving of toilets made out of solid gold but let me tell you something buddy. Inisde those toilets is where most Phillies fans belong. Lighten up and consider reason.
This might be the dumbest comment I’ve ever read.
Those prospects the Phillies would be trading Jayson Werth for would have the same chance of success as draft picks.
Exactly. Perhaps a slightly better chance of working out then the picks but what team ever traded a core component of a championship team in the middle of a playoff run?! With Lee, hey it was suspect but it was before the season started and quazi related to getting Halladay here.
Yeah, and – for the record – Halladay has worked out a lot better than Lee so far.
notice how I said “AA top prospects”. Meaning guys that have a future in the majors. How many first-rounders fall into obscurity and don’t make it out of single A ball?
Except the Phillies won’t get a huge haul for a half-season rental of Werth, best case scenario is they get 1 prospect from a team’s top 6-7 at a position of need. Werth (+ 2 draft picks when he leaves via FA) has more value to the Phillies when you take into consideration that they are in “win now” mode.
You have a point but let me elaborate on how I see it. It would have to be a perfect fit. The ideal team would be one that is one piece (power hitting outfield bat with good fielding and speed) away from seriously contending. The team would also have to have the money to extend him or be so desperate for a world series that they don’t care about long-term. They would also need a deeper than deep farm system that they could delve into without seriously killing their chances for a team of home grown superstars some time in the future but also satisfy the Phillies.
Really? So some kid out of high school (or even college) has the “same chance” of success as a top prospect who’s already playing well at AA or AAA? And you just called someone else’s comment dumb?
C’mon man. Everyone knows trading Lee was stupid. A World Series would have been on lock for you guys had you kept Lee.
“In 2 years, who know’s what the economy will be like and what the market rate will be for a player like Howard?”
All I know about the economy is that it will NOT have bounced back enough to say that Howard is worth 25 million or more. That’s some major inflation we’re talking about there.
So the Phillies are on the hook for 164MM guaranteed through 2016, since this 125MM deal adds on to the 39MM Howard was already owed through 2011.
This is really, really dumb.
Phils fans, do you want to know what Howard is going to be like in 2015? Just look at David Ortiz today!
I was thinking the exact same thing
Except Ortiz was almost entirely a steroids invention. He never has had the talent Howard possesses nor ever played as quality of defense. Hell he might not have ever been in as good of physical shape.
Actually, he was a product of Manny Ramirez batting in front of him. If the Phils can hold onto Rollins and Utley in the future, I actually don’t think this deal will be as bad as people think because of the people batting around Howard.
Except he’ll have to play the field, since the Phillies are in the NL and can’t DH him.
yea except howard in the past 2 offseasons has lost over 40 lbs and also howard wasnt on juice.
We don’t know that, especially since 9/10 above average players in this day and age are taking some type of PED, or multiple PED’s.
A bit of an exaggeration. In my opinion, Howard and Ortiz are not comparable.
This really sets a high bar. Now the other big first basemen will have grounds to ask for similar money. And if Howard’s getting 25, what’s Pujols gonna get?
You guys act like you know how good he’ll be when he’s 35. I’ll rank the contract in five years when it’s over. Right now I’m happy we locked up one of the top players in the game.
Update????
Wow. I wonder what this means for Prince? This is clearly a terrible deal for the Phillies, and Scott Boras will no doubt spin this into more dollars for Fielder.
Wow, Joe Mauer 23 million a year? Ryan Howard 25 million until he’s 36 years old?
Phillies Fail.
I hate this move.
They locked up far too many of his free agent years at that kind of cost for a guy who’s already 30 with his skill type.
Between the Ibanez, Polanco, Moyer and Howard deals, I’m starting to question Amaro a little when it comes to long-term deals with veterans. He really doesn’t seem to mind paying a premium for aging veterans.
Sounds a lot like the early-2000’s Yankees.
Yeah it does.
Unnecessary move for the Phillies, and bad news for the Cardinals. It does make the Holliday contract look better in comparison, but if Howard gets $25 million a year, I don’t even want to think about what Pujols would command.
Pujols money isn’t affected in any way by this.
Fielder and AGonz are a different story….
Any time a position player signs for a lot of money, agents LOVE to use ‘comparables’ to say “howard got 25m, and he’s only been MVP once and Xth in the voting X times with a blah blah blah so Pujols is mathematically worth %x more than Howard” sort of nonsense.
Pujols won’t be any different. He’s not going to get a 35m/year contract just because he’s Pujols and he’ll be hated by millions if he ditches St. Louis if his agents ask for something unreasonable in a market with a lot of 1B’s to go around. He knows the media in NY won’t give a shit about his kid with Downs and his Christian faith, but that is eaten up in the midwest so he’s going to be way more comfortable in St. Louis taking “less” money (ie: Howard money or something close) than being a “gotta get PAID” player who sells out to the highest bidder.
Howard’s deal sets the baseline and since it’s right in line with where I think most people were expecting Pujols to re-sign… it may have bumped up Pujols’s non-absurd figures to 10-20m over the life of a contract. 35m/year will still be absurd, but I think a lot of people were hoping 20-23/year would have been ‘good enough’ until now.
The Phillies won’t ever really be the class of the league until they can get guys to take discounts, one way or another (terms or dollars). Unless that starts happening, and soon, they’ll just have been another team who had a good run for a few seasons in a couple years.
This is frustrating.
Last time I checked, Doc took a discount to sign an extension with the Phils…
3/60 is a not a discount.
For Roy Halladay it absolutely was.
Not when you consider how easy it is for him to get that option to vest on that 4th year, I respect Doc more than any other pitcher, but his production is very likely to spike downward during the last year or two of that contract.
This was an awful, AWFUL deal. Wow…
If he learns to lay off pitches and improves his plate discipline aver these next years this deal will not be bad because he will hit 50-60 hrs a year but agreed with everyone if a second of bat speed goes down and he does not improve pitch recognition they are screwed I bet they trade him before the deal is done
No team in their right mind is going to take on a significant portion of that salary when the Phillies will be attempting to unload that contract.
I don’t call this dead “dumb”, but I am confused by the logic the FO used to make it happen.
Confusing to say the least…
Smart move by Howard. He made sure he got paid early and doesn’t have to contend with what could have been the best first baseman free agent class ever. Hard to see how this is all that good for the Phillies but it’s excellent for Howard. Nice to see him taken care of.
Please stop comparing Howard to David Ortiz, Howard doesn’t use Sterioids like Ortiz, his production dropped because he stopped the juice!
Uhhh, Howard would have gotten a $200,000,000 deal in 2012 from the Sox, Yankees, Mets and maybe Dodgers and Cubs if he would have kept up his 49 homer, 145+RBI pace the next two years. This is a very smart calculated “risk” for the Phillies. Actually, it’s brilliant.
Yanks already have a 1B. Sorry
I doubt it.
No he wouldn’t have because he would be entering his age 32 season when he was set to hit FA and his projected competition at 1B would be so great that if he had gone to FA I can almost guarantee he would’ve been paid less than Adrian, Prince, and Albert. All 3 of those players are younger than Howard (you could question Pujols’ listed age but whatever, there isn’t any proof) and teams would covet them over Ryan.
A couple years ago I would have made the Ortiz/Vaughn comparison, but not anymore. Howard has lost a lot of weight since 2008, which proves two things: A) He’s probably not going to eat himself out of the league and B) his power probably wasn’t coming from PEDs.
He has also become a much better fielder. If you ignore the fact he can’t throw to second (which, granted, is hard to ignore) he is now solidly above average at first base.
Another thing he is doing more of, this year, is going the other way to beat the shift. Last year he even started stealing bases.
I don’t love the deal, but it certainly isn’t terrible. And, I’ll go as far as saying anyone who does think it is terrible doesn’t watch the Phillies on a regular basis. (As I do.)
Sure there is a chance Howard reverts to bad eating habits and stops working on his defense and all-fields hitting, now that he got his big payday. But something tells me a guy — who by all account is a hard worker, a good team player and is on a team that should contend for a while — won’t do that.
Could it by his bat speed slows down a tick and the deal doesn’t look so great in the last year of the contract — sure.
But I actually think they are going to get pretty good value until then.
And, I doubt this deal makes it less likely they sign Werth.
At least in three years, we’ll be talking about the worst contracts in baseball and Vernon Wells won’t be alone up there now…
neither will be Soriano…
Bat F/X shows Howard has the best bat speed in the game, and its not even close. Even if he loses a little, he’ll have one of the quickest bats in the game.
I don’t understand what makes everyone dislike Ryan Howard so much. Unlike all of the typical big, slow, clumsy, steroid-laced power hitters he’s compared skeptically to, Howard cares about defense, he runs the bases well, he’s lost a lot of weight and gotten a lot quicker, and his approach at the plate has been a lot better so far this year. In addition to being one of the most mild-mannered, team oriented sluggers in baseball, Ryan Howard is becoming a much better complete player. I’ll enjoy laughing at all of you when he’s still playing a decent first base and bashing 45 homers per year in 2016.
How is his approach at the plate better? He has one unintentional walk so far. That’s awful. And he can’t really hit lefties any better than an average player.
PED’s or not…he is a career .226 hitter against lefties….the problem with the rationale the phils have is this…the more free-agents that hit the market at the same time…the less competition u have over a bigger pool of options…
how many teams can sign Pujols/Howard/Fielder/A-Gonz to contracts over 25 mil.
1 – Red Sox
2 – Yankees…whoops…they already have a 1st baseman…cross them off..
3 – Anaheim – they have Kendry Morales…
4 – Mets – they MIGHT have a keeper in Ike Davis…jury is still out..
5 – Dodgers…nope they got that Ether
so face it…in a year where Fielder/Gonzalez/Pujols/Howard were going to be free-agents…there were only 2 teams that could actually spend over 20 mil…the first 2 guys to sign get the top dollar…the next 2 guys would only get 15-18 tops…
remember when Boras said that Carlos Beltran would sign for NOTHING Less than 10/200?
that tune quickly changed once the Yanks said they were out of the running…
u fools actually HAD leverage and gave it away…
smh
Agreed, the contract is awful. Howard is getting worse and worse against lefties each year. 2006 was the only year he hit them well.
Year OPS
2006 .923
2007 .826
2008 .746
2009 .653
Very disturbing trend
you forgot about the cubs
Say goodbye to Werth.
good call haha
wait, does this mean that buster olney can’t make crap up about trading pujols for howard????
LOL… stupid extension… Paying top money for a DH. I know he smashes the ball but they just gave away 7 or 8 millions per year for a horrible defensive player. And i thought that Soriano was a thief…
This is the wost analysis I have ever seen. What makes Howard a horrible defensive player? His reputation coming up in the league? That’s all anyone talked about. Has anyone looked at the work put in this offseason and last to improve his defense? Entering last nights game Howard was sporting a .990 fielding percent. That’s best for 1B’s in MLB. Will Howard win the gold glove? Probably not, as even if he keeps up as the best statistically fielding 1B he still has that reputation as a bad fielder. Gold Gloves are given based on reputation, this is why Andrew Jones won so many after he was a well below average CF in the league. If you want to insult contract that’s fine, just be sure you know what’s going on with his defense before pointing out how ‘horrible’ he is.
Fielding percentage? I’m not normally one to jump in and call people on the stats they use, but fielding percentage? You couldn’t at least use something that has only been obsolete for a few years, like range factor.
UZR says Howard is basically average, with a UZR/150 of 1.2 during his tenure in the Phillies organization. Be sure to have your (legitimate) facts straight before you accuse someone of bad analysis (even though it was).
I like this deal…for the Cubs. Anything that makes it even more difficult for the Cards to sign Pujols and/or the Brewers to sign Fielder works for me.
10MM buyout??!? Has there ever been a more expensive buyout…ever? That’s an insane number!
Based on his 162 game average of total strikeouts (193), Howard will make about $48,000 every time he strikes out.
Hope I did that math correctly lol
I lovelovelove that when a player signs a deal someone doesn’t like, all of a sudden BA, HR, RBI mean NOTHING! I suppose a lot of you seamheads would be happy watching 9 guys that all walk 5x a game. Why hit at all?
In my book, a guy that goes 45/140 every year and plays a decent 1b is a fair-to-middling player.
All of you sabermetric people (and I’m a fan of WAR, OPS, etc myself) are overreacting by saying Howard’s prowess as an RBI man is worthless, that it’s purely a team stat. I disagree. You have to understand the mindset of the individual hitter to fully understand how good they are at what they do. Ryan Howard knocks in a lot of runs not only because he has great hitters on base in front of him, which he does, but also because he would rather make an out (Sac fly, groundball to First with one out and a runner at 3rd) than draw a walk and leave the RBI duties for Werth. Howard is paid to knock in runs. So he probably expands his zone a bit with runners on, or maybe looks to hit home runs with no runners on. The bottom line is that Howard is an offensive force. A fearsome slugger in the mold of Dave Parker.
I will agree that the Phils overpaid for him considering the deal ends when he’s 36, and even then they’ll probably have to pay that $10m buyout unless they want to pay him big money at age 37. I give Howard credit though for losing weight and drastically improving his defense. He’s a better defender than many people give him credit for.
As for the argument that he’s a 2nd or even 3rd tier first baseman, you people are just plain wrong. Other than Pujols and possibly Teixeira, who would you rather have at 1B? Miguel Cabrera? He’s on his way to eating his way out of the league and is awful defensively. Prince Fielder? I might go for this, but again, weight could be a concern. Joey Votto? Too injury prone. Adrian Gonzalez? An excellent player. Better defensively, but similar in AVG. Gonzalez is slightly better in OPS but worse in HR and RBI. And don’t tell me it’s the lineup. Gonzalez wouldn’t knock in 140 in the Phillies lineup, just like Teixeira doesn’t knock in 140 in the Yanks lineup. Knocking guys in is a skill people. That’s what Howard is paid to do.
I’m not sure how sacrificing yourself for an RBI over taking a walk should earn him the kind of money he is receiving.
I have this sudden feeling that after the third year of Howard’s contract, Amaro will be quoting Gob Bluth from Arrested Development by saying, “I’ve made a huge mistake.”